Canon to add 25fps 4K video recording to EOS-1D C pro DSLR

Canon has announced an upcoming service update to its EOS-1D C professional DSLR that will add 25p 4K video recording. The camera currently captures 4096 x 2160 resolution videos at up to 24p without downscaling, from an APS-H crop of its 18MP full-frame sensor. In a service advisory, the company promises more information about this update in April 2013 for US EOS-1D C owners. There is currently no information on the European website.

the 4K resolution is low enough for mobile devices which may have problem with 8K for sometime.

the current 3D is more like the old analog TVs, you get it as scanned. in the future when we have more computing power, we will be able to view from different angles and perspectives of a composed one (this requires shooting while walking, the way we see the world, a statue for example).

Seems like Canon are still leading the way with video in SLRs.Congrats to them from a Nikon user.Whatever gripes some have it's better for the industry as a whole that some companies keep 'pushing the envelope'.

I have the X and I also have a little Sony RX100 and the video output from the Sony other than slightly less highlight retention is as good and in some cases better the X.Canon are not trying hard enough. The cost of the C is stupid, no way is there double the expense of the X in it. They could easily of had both cameras at the same price point.

Canon led the way years ago and then gave up. They still don't have real downscaling of their images for video; after years of development time and complaints, they're still using line-skipping and producing video with hideous aliasing and moire.

And they're still shooting to crappy codecs with decimated color information at laughable bitrates. Canon was the manufacturer that other video-camera makers were worried about. Not any more. They blew it, hard.

4k video will be available in $300 consumer models, soon enough. People will shout, "Hey, must have!" But then they will discover that 4k video demands perfect lighting, oceans of memory, 250mpbs bitrates, a $20k viewing screen, and dermatological enhancements--all for the sake of an image that looks the same at usual viewing distance. 4k video also demands a tripod, or super-duper stabilization, or any advantage is lost. The ability to crop 4k video might be attractive, except that the CPU and rendering time requirements are substantial. Easier to shoot with two mere HD cameras: one long, the other wide.

"not if they use the 4k for current HD, everyone will have access to the best hd videos in sharpness and details"

Exactly. If you only have a full HD display, you can still make use of your 4K footage by reencoding it to 1080p. It'll have FAR better actual (real) resolution than the footage of any 1080p camera - pixel oversampling will always result in far better resolution than 1:1 recording. (See for example the Nokia 808's results in this regard.)

And, of course, 4K recordings you make TODAY are far more future-proof than 1080p ones. Sooner or later, everyone will have 4K displays.

They haven't got Blu-Ray straight yet and now 4K! Where are the video editors and other software and hardware to make this work? It's like shooting 60P video and your stinking BD player cannot handle it. A race for the cliff with wild techies in pursuit.

"Still" still has its advantages. Any homely print, in a nice frame, will win a polite "Hmmm, nice" comment from from a friend, even if only as a segue to chatter about something else. A video longer than 10 seconds, on the other hand, will drive friends batty, unless it is very humorous or unless they like the music. Good video demands exceptional content or heaps of work (and money helps).

yabokkie, you must have a really short attention span, if you can't concentrate on an image for more than a fraction of a second. There's a huge aesthetic pleasure to be derived from contemplating a well-composed still image.And saying that stills never should have happened, and only happened because of the technical inability to create video, amounts to saying that painting/drawing never should have happened, and only happened because of the technical inability to create cartoons!Basically, you dismiss the entire history of art and its principles of composition.

Many people nowadays talk about stills becoming part of video, but I don't see that happening. I can see why some might find it useful to extract stills from video, like documentary or sports photographers, or even fashion photographers shooting models on the catwalk. But not fine art, landscape and portrait shooters, or anyone who really cares about composition. So to say that stills is dying is just ignorant IMHO.

Why bother? The 24fps and 25fps allow flexibility in use for both film and TV broadcasting. Here's why.

The appearance of "choppy videos" is more a matter of what shutter speeds are used. All movie "films" were and are still shot and shown at 24fps. To make them smooth, the shutter speed needs to be slower than 2 times the frame rate. Movie audiences are used to this rate and generally don't like the higher rate.

24fps does not transfer smoothly to televisions that originally used 30 fps as derived from their 60Hz AC power in the US. The 25fps rate is easier to adapt to TVs both in the US and Europe, which uses 50Hz AC power. Over the years TV frame rates have increased to multiples of 30Hz.

The 4K video recordings requires processing 4 times the data as 1080p. To collect and store this much data continuously at 30fps and up requires faster data processing speeds that is probably beyond the capabilities of even the EOS 1D C.

HDSLR cameras are given 24 fps so that videos have a more "cinematic" or film-like look. A properly shot using 24p as the frame-rate does not look choppy, but renders motion in a way that we are accustomed to seeing in narrative film / motion pictures.

30p is smoother, some say too smooth, too much like video. 24 fps is the industry standard for film and projection, and with digital video is a popular choice for many videographers as it mimics film.

The Canon 5DII didn't originally have 24p. It was added in a firmware update as videographers requested this frame rate, not because they wanted their videos to look choppy, but because of the pleasing way it renders motion.

"The 4K video recordings requires processing 4 times the data as 1080p. To collect and store this much data continuously at 30fps and up requires faster data processing speeds that is probably beyond the capabilities of even the EOS 1D C."

Exactly. Camera companies must plan beforehand and build in components that actually are capable of handling such a HUUUUUGE bandwidth. Very few of them do. Take a look at the GoPro 3 Black Edition's 4K mode (15 fps max). They surely would have added 24...30 fps if they had been able to to make the camera stand out even more (and be actually usable to shoot action at 4k). They weren't for the reasons explained above.

"Way too slow. Ideal fps would be 300, but 120fps would be a good start."

You've forgotten to add "/sarcasm" to show us you didn't meant that seriously...

Camera manufacturers are having a VERY hard time adding even 15 fps support at 4k in their cameras, let alone 120, which is, at the current state of technology, is plain impossible (in cameras costing less than, say, 50k US$)...

No, I'm not kidding at all. It's so sad to see how many photographers have so little knowledge about any other subject. At 300 fps an image appears like you are looking out of a window at real life in motion. And speaking of impossible... just a while ago 1TB hard drives were impossible, 1GB of ram was impossible, 10 GFLOP cpu's were impossible, and 10Mpixel cameras were impossible.

"No, I'm not kidding at all. It's so sad to see how many photographers have so little knowledge about any other subject."

1. Many even state 60 fps is an overkill and 30 fps is sufficient.

2. Hardware will be capable of 300 fps at 4k. In some 2-3 years but definitely NOT today. It is, today, IMPOSSIBLE to do what you're asking for. Even the ones that desperately need as high fps as possible (action camera makers) can't do it in their top-end models.

300 FPS? There's no logical reason to ever present anything at 300 frames per second, your eyes and your brain could not process that much information, not to mention things that *should* have motion blur will mysteriously not have it. Look at your hand and wiggle it back and forth, see how blurry that is? Kiss that goodbye at 300FPS, how exactly would that be like "real life"? The sad thing here is that YOU are criticizing peoples' ignorance when you don't actually have the slightest clue what you're talking about. High frame rates can deliver certain effects but the most practical use for anything over 60 fps is to remap to a lower fps for slow motion effects (300fps would be awesome in that respect, you could turn 1 second into 10, more than enough for most cinematic effects). And re:real life, frame rate is not analogous to the way your eyes perceive visual stimuli. For the sake of video and animation, 60-120 fps is the reasonable limit; any more is a waste of resources.

sagebrushfire , yes, when you move that hand in front of you it will appear blurry... until your eyes lock on and track it. Then it will be smooth as silk. Do you know why? Because real life is way, way faster than 60 FPS. This is easily seen on a movie screen whenever a camera pans across a landscape or when you watch a moving spaceship... instead of smooth motion you get nauseating choppy jitter.

Very technical, but hope they soon allow 30fps. Seeing the difference, motion's a lot smoother and people can always limit it to 24/25fps if they want. Sounds like processing this amount of data is difficult, so it may be a while before they offer a 'true' 8k model. Which makes me wonder- isn't high resolution film still a better archival format? Sorry to be inane, but when something is touted as the best thing since sliced bread, sometimes it's good to point out it's limitations.

High resolution film is better if you can preserve it. Color dyes still shift and fade over time. The most archival method is breaking out the RGB color into 3-strip B&W, but while it's clearly the best, it's not something most people will be willing to do. For most businesses and families, it's better to plan to continually migrate video to whatever format is current.

Excellent point, in this sense for most people digital is safer, especially if you can do multiple back-ups. I do wonder for feature film makers, though, if formats like this will stand the test of time as well as conventional film, especially the 70mm variety. Digital is often presented as state of the art and as if it is the only available technology. Film at it's best still has a lot of advantages and I'm not sure I like the glossy, plasticy look of digital for conveying atmosphere, though of course it can have filters applied a la Instagram.

It's a little sad for me that despite all the fuss, digital is still a work in progress, without the maturity film has achieved through years of evolution. An 8k scan of an old 70mm film would offer so much more detail and subtlty than this, but given the choice of convenience, who would bother?

A lot of great films are rapidly deteriorating right now. While a lot of people try to take a fanboy approach and pit film vs digital in some kind of "war," the fact is that one of the biggest reasons great old films are being restored is because of digital DVD, Blu-Ray, and 8K. It is the economic potential of these digital markets that is making funding available to restore classic films. If we still had only film available, the theatrical market is not nearly large enough to justify this and great old films would rot and die. Film simply doesn't even last 100 years, in many cases not even 50.

As far as 8K scans of 70mm, you are mostly right. For most films, no one will bother. But when the film is cherished by the right people, it will happen. The 70mm masterpiece Baraka was scanned at 8K and the resulting Blu-Ray is so spectacular many say it's a "reference disc" enthusiasts use to rate all other Blu-Rays.

What would make 8K scans commonplace? If it becomes inexpensive and easy.

I am in the the 99%all my best photos have been taken with my eyes and stored on my grey matter drive. Bad print quality but great dynamic range and detail. My best shots have been taken at the range at 1,000 yards

What's the point? Lots of points!1. Think of it as a "burst mode" that captures 8MP stills, but can grab 25 of them in a second.2. Allows for post-production, including zooming & cropping into an image, to output full HD video.3. Capture panoramas with ultra-wide adapters, then crop down to the part you need.4. As you said, 4K is already a standard in theaters.

@ J Birn, I think Hugh means what's the point of 25fps specifically - there's a standard for 4K at 24fps but to me it seems he questions the added value of 25fps. There's a legacy affinity in Europe for 25fps being half of 50Hz (their local refresh rate), but their tech has long been capable of displaying 24fps correctly,

I mentioned in a post below, the camera is way too limiting without 30p. Who cares about 4k when you cant get 30p/60i?! I love Canon and would hope they release a similar camera with that feature. (the c300,c100,red, BMCC aren't cameras that go on long expeditions in your backpack.)

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